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This document describes results from the 2021 global OHI assessment. This is mostly an internal document to explore and check results. It also creates the figures used on the website and in other documents.

Primary dataset

These data are the OHI scores for the eez regions of 220 countries and territories from 2012 to 2021.

Region 0 is the global average scores, which are calculated using an area-weighted average of the region scores (status, likely future state, and score).

OHI scores

Global summary

This section describes global patterns in index and goal scores. The overall global score was 69.72.

Alternative color scale

Average global performance of the 10 goals.

Flower plots for each region can be downloaded from here

Country summary

Country index scores for 2021. Maps describing goal and index scores can be downloaded from here.

Distribution of country index scores. The median index score among countries was 68.46.

The regions with index scores of 80 or greater are:

region_name Index
Macquarie Island 91.66
Howland Island and Baker Island 89.72
Jarvis Island 83.41
Sint Maarten 83.20
Seychelles 82.12
Turks and Caicos Islands 81.80
Saba 81.62
South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands 80.83
Heard and McDonald Islands 80.49
New Zealand 80.38

The regions with index scores of 60 or less are:

region_name Index
Gilbert Islands (Kiribati) 59.99
North Korea 59.82
Haiti 59.66
Republique du Congo 59.12
Togo 58.76
El Salvador 58.72
Ukraine 58.59
Tristan da Cunha 58.14
Bosnia and Herzegovina 57.60
Saint Helena 56.85
Syria 56.46
Eritrea 56.35
Falkland Islands 56.25
Israel 55.16
Libya 54.38
Democratic Republic of the Congo 52.94
Sudan 52.86
Liberia 51.77
Ivory Coast 50.43

Country scores across scenario year

Carpet plot figure (download as high resolution png) providing an overview of the scores from the 2021 assessment. Each row represents a region, the main groupings represent goals, and within each goal there are 7 years of data. Black regions indicate no data.

Don’t try too hard to interpret the results for specific countries/goals/years!!

This plot is good for providing a quick overview of:

  • What is the range of scores?
  • Which goals tend to have high scores across most regions (species, habitat)
  • Which goals have a lot of variation across regions (tourism & recreation, lasting special places)
  • Which goals are volatile across years (natural products, tourism & recreation)

Data

This interactive table describes the index and goal scores for the regions in 2021 (or, download csv version):




A closer look at goals

This section takes a closer look at the goal/subgoal scores.

Scores

Goal/subgoal scores for the 2021 scenario.

Artisanal opportunities

Scores

Top 10 performers

region_name score
Antigua and Barbuda 100.00
Wallis and Futuna 100.00
Djibouti 100.00
R_union 100.00
Costa Rica 100.00
Jordan 99.80
Samoa 98.62
Bahrain 98.46
Qatar 97.36
United Arab Emirates 96.29

Bottom 10 performers

region_name score
191 Phoenix Islands (Kiribati) 43.21
192 Tristan da Cunha 43.13
193 Norfolk Island 42.54
194 Gilbert Islands (Kiribati) 36.93
195 Palau 34.89
196 Ukraine 32.80
197 South Africa 30.99
198 Maldives 28.39
199 Georgia 24.64
200 Namibia 24.39

Species condition

Scores

Top 10 performers

region_name score
Romania 88.70
Bulgaria 88.25
Ukraine 88.02
Northern Saint-Martin 87.75
Jordan 86.97
Djibouti 86.79
Sint Eustatius 86.75
Saba 86.14
Sint Maarten 85.49
Cambodia 85.42

Bottom 10 performers

region_name score
211 Greece 66.37
212 Italy 65.71
213 Syria 65.12
214 Israel 64.60
215 Algeria 63.52
216 Lebanon 63.15
217 Malta 62.33
218 Cyprus 60.32
219 Libya 59.90
220 Monaco 58.81

Habitat

Scores

Top 10 performers

region_name score
Macquarie Island 100.00
Aruba 100.00
French Polynesia 99.98
Clipperton Island 99.95
Amsterdam Island and Saint Paul Island 99.95
Saba 99.94
French Guiana 99.87
Wallis and Futuna 99.86
Saint Pierre and Miquelon 99.85
Norfolk Island 99.81

Bottom 10 performers

region_name score
211 Democratic Republic of the Congo 63.59
212 Iceland 61.16
213 Ivory Coast 60.81
214 Gabon 60.66
215 Sint Eustatius 60.25
216 Andaman and Nicobar 58.40
217 Poland 57.74
218 Jan Mayen 56.75
219 Phoenix Islands (Kiribati) 41.38
220 Bosnia and Herzegovina 36.52

Coastal protection

Scores

Top 10 performers

region_name score
Macquarie Island 100
Sint Maarten 100
Saba 100
Clipperton Island 100
Aruba 100
Sint Eustatius 100
Wallis and Futuna 100
Sao Tome and Principe 100
Curacao 100
Tuvalu 100

Bottom 10 performers

region_name score
198 Anguilla 57.03
199 Poland 56.38
200 Argentina 55.45
201 British Virgin Islands 55.23
202 Chile 51.66
203 Bermuda 51.18
204 Pakistan 45.22
205 Liberia 34.78
206 Ivory Coast 32.59
207 Democratic Republic of the Congo 29.99

Carbon storage

Scores

Top 10 performers

region_name score
Sint Maarten 100
Turks and Caicos Islands 100
Saba 100
Ile Europa 100
Mayotte 100
Northern Saint-Martin 100
Aruba 100
Sint Eustatius 100
Sao Tome and Principe 100
French Polynesia 100

Bottom 10 performers

region_name score
171 Guernsey 61.88
172 Ukraine 61.88
173 El Salvador 59.82
174 Vietnam 58.64
175 Oman 52.25
176 Pakistan 45.15
177 Oecussi Ambeno 42.35
178 Liberia 34.74
179 Ivory Coast 32.59
180 Democratic Republic of the Congo 30.01

Clean waters

Scores

Top 10 performers

region_name score
Heard and McDonald Islands 99.43
Bouvet Island 97.82
South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands 97.40
Kerguelen Islands 96.98
Jarvis Island 96.76
Falkland Islands 96.66
Howland Island and Baker Island 95.86
Phoenix Islands (Kiribati) 95.26
Cook Islands 93.34
Micronesia 93.33

Bottom 10 performers

region_name score
211 India 31.12
212 Belgium 30.32
213 Israel 29.02
214 Gilbert Islands (Kiribati) 28.18
215 Slovenia 26.31
216 Nauru 24.26
217 Benin 22.57
218 Togo 20.31
219 Monaco 19.48
220 Gibraltar 18.80

Fisheries

Scores

Top 10 performers

region_name score
Macquarie Island 100.00
Nauru 97.19
Palau 92.43
Turks and Caicos Islands 91.90
Estonia 90.58
Prince Edward Islands 89.99
Latvia 89.51
Howland Island and Baker Island 89.35
Tuvalu 88.77
Gilbert Islands (Kiribati) 87.82

Bottom 10 performers

region_name score
211 Bulgaria 12.42
212 Johnston Atoll 12.03
213 Cocos Islands 11.37
214 Western Sahara 11.14
215 Jan Mayen 10.61
216 Pitcairn 9.82
217 Norfolk Island 8.64
218 Amsterdam Island and Saint Paul Island 8.25
219 Bouvet Island 7.78
220 North Korea 1.93

Mariculture

Scores

Top 10 performers

region_name score
Norway 100
Spain 100
Slovenia 100
Finland 100
Bulgaria 100
South Korea 100
Taiwan 100
China 100
Singapore 100
Netherlands 100

Bottom 10 performers

region_name score
185 Tristan da Cunha 0
186 Saint Helena 0
187 Syria 0
188 Eritrea 0
189 Falkland Islands 0
190 Libya 0
191 Democratic Republic of the Congo 0
192 Sudan 0
193 Liberia 0
194 Ivory Coast 0

Iconic species

Scores

Top 10 performers

region_name score
Finland 92.46
Estonia 91.85
Latvia 91.85
Lithuania 91.85
Poland 91.85
Sweden 85.93
Denmark 85.50
Germany 84.82
Bouvet Island 84.67
Romania 84.01

Bottom 10 performers

region_name score
211 Ile Europa 50.81
212 Kerguelen Islands 50.81
213 Glorioso Islands 50.81
214 Juan de Nova Island 50.81
215 Crozet Islands 50.81
216 Ile Tromelin 50.81
217 Bassas da India 50.81
218 Amsterdam Island and Saint Paul Island 50.81
219 Cambodia 49.90
220 Thailand 49.32

Lasting special places

Scores

Top 10 performers

region_name score
Macquarie Island 100
Howland Island and Baker Island 100
Jarvis Island 100
Seychelles 100
Saba 100
South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands 100
Heard and McDonald Islands 100
Prince Edward Islands 100
Ile Europa 100
Bonaire 100

Bottom 10 performers

region_name score
211 Andaman and Nicobar 0
212 Benin 0
213 Gilbert Islands (Kiribati) 0
214 Togo 0
215 Tristan da Cunha 0
216 Saint Helena 0
217 Syria 0
218 Eritrea 0
219 Libya 0
220 Sudan 0

Natural products

Scores

Top 10 performers

region_name score
Jan Mayen 100.00
Faeroe Islands 99.98
Georgia 99.89
Lithuania 99.73
Bulgaria 99.70
Estonia 99.69
Seychelles 99.67
Sweden 99.67
Ecuador 99.67
Uruguay 99.66

Bottom 10 performers

region_name score
182 Palau 27.52
183 Nicaragua 26.62
184 Micronesia 25.31
185 Fiji 24.28
186 Israel 18.81
187 Morocco 15.65
188 Singapore 14.69
189 Marshall Islands 9.23
190 Belize 5.19
191 Costa Rica 5.07

Tourism and recreation

Scores

Top 10 performers

region_name score
Sint Maarten 100
Seychelles 100
Saba 100
New Zealand 100
Bonaire 100
Aruba 100
Cape Verde 100
Sint Eustatius 100
Bahamas 100
Curacao 100

Bottom 10 performers

region_name score
191 Ukraine 9.33
192 Republique du Congo 9.14
193 Nigeria 8.65
194 Sierra Leone 8.59
195 Libya 7.07
196 Gabon 5.46
197 Angola 5.12
198 Papua New Guinea 4.93
199 Yemen 4.10
200 Democratic Republic of the Congo 2.00

Other analyses

Comparing trend and average index scores

To obtain a more complete picture of which regions are doing well and which are doing poorly we compared the average index scores (averaged over 2012 to 2021) and the trends for each region.

Of most concern are regions that have poor scores and declining trends.

The following is an interactive plot (region names are visible when hovering over the points) showing the relationship between average index scores and trend. The horizontal line represents the 0 trend and the vertical line is the average of the average index scores.

Comparing assessment years

The following is a comparison of the global status scores generated for the 2021 scenario by this year’s assessment vs. last year’s assessment.

If the models and source data remain the same, these scores should be exactly the same. Differences indicate changes in methods or source data.

These changes do not reflect changes in actual system health!

long_goal future pressures resilience score status trend
Artisanal opportunities -3.8169500 0.0019545 0.3776818 0.1605500 4.1376000 -0.0023500
Biodiversity -7.7491818 NaN NaN -4.2857727 -0.8223636 0.0006364
Carbon storage 1.1689726 -0.1062329 1.0378767 2.4876027 3.8065753 0.0359350
Clean water -2.6277273 -0.0203182 -0.0019545 -1.1628636 0.3014091 0.0077727
Coastal protection -2.6940237 -0.1756977 0.3955814 -0.3095858 2.0763314 -0.0065772
Economies -3.7002941 -0.0412322 -0.0030909 -1.8500980 0.0000000 0.0000000
Fisheries (subgoal) -7.5667273 -0.0451818 1.2515909 -4.4130909 -1.2600000 -0.0047273
Food provision -6.8916818 NaN NaN -4.0348182 -1.1786364 -0.0072273
Habitat (subgoal) -7.7419725 0.6735321 0.7809174 -4.8774771 -2.0125688 0.0049074
Iconic species (subgoal) -7.3626818 -0.0479545 0.7535000 -4.0664091 -0.7713182 -0.0023636
Index -3.6934091 NA NA -1.0225455 NA NA
Lasting special places (subgoal) 0.9929545 0.0025000 -0.0022727 1.7805909 2.5680909 0.0181818
Livelihoods -2.7666667 -0.0340284 -0.0017727 -1.3825980 0.0000000 0.0000000
Livelihoods & economies -3.2331863 NaN NaN -1.6166176 -0.0001471 0.0006373
Mariculture (subgoal) -0.5720207 0.0025455 4.1116364 -0.4254922 -0.2789119 0.0115026
Natural products -1.1015957 -0.1056771 -0.2656250 3.0011702 7.1039362 -0.0350000
Sense of place -3.1850909 NaN NaN -1.1428636 0.8988636 0.0083182
Species condition (subgoal) -7.6479545 -0.0686818 1.6323182 -3.6403182 0.3670455 -0.0015455
Tourism & recreation -3.4639500 -0.0107727 -0.0019545 -1.8934000 -0.3228500 0.0003000

Country data

The following interactive plot provides an overview of how the 2021 scenario scores changed between the 2020 and 2021 assessments for all goals and dimensions.